[Self-inflicted dermatitis: a case in pediatric age]

Abstract

The skin is an organ that has a primary function in the tactile receptivity and also reacts significantly to emotional stimuli. The high visibility of the dermatological diseases makes the skin a privileged target for feelings and actions that reflect behavioural problems. The tendency to self-harm can be expressed with remarkable frequency through dermatological lesions; among them neurotic excoriations are a clinical frame in which patients, unlike for other ''similar'' pathologies, succeed however in recognizing their own role in the development of the cutaneous lesions. This pathology is not frequent in paediatric age; the highest statistical frequency, however, is to be found in the adolescence period of development. The authors describe a multidisciplinary, dermatological and psychological intervention on a child who intensifies a pre-existing dermatological symptom for psychological reasons.